Completed insert set – 2011 Allen & Ginter Minds that Made the Future

This is the 4th full-size insert I’ve completed from A&G. Like most of those insert sets, it’s one that doesn’t have anything to do with sports.

Info about the set:

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Set description: “Honoring the biggest brains in history! Archimedes, Kepler, Mendel, Volta, Lavoisier, etc.” The set has a gear as a frame containing a picture of the brilliant mind. A picture of the individual’s invention is in a circular frame just below that. The back has a write-up about the famous person’s influence on the world.

Set composition: 40 cards, 1:8 odds (2011 Allen & Ginter’s)

Hall of Famers: None as it’s not a sports set.

How I put the set together:

6 cards from 2 hobby boxes

8 cards from trades

18 cards from Sportlots

5 cards from COMC

3 cards from Beckett Marketplace

Card that completed my set: MMF24 – Nikola Tesla.

I got this card from Sportlots last month after buying a bunch of cards when COMC had its Black Friday sale. Tesla is one of my favorite cards of the set. Tesla was a significant contributor to the science surrounding electricity and magnetism. Plus, he’s the naming inspiration for an American automobile company, and an 80’s heavy metal band (who I saw live a few years ago).

Thoughts on the set: It’s an interesting set, and I liked reading through the write-ups of so many brilliant minds. There’s so many cards that it was really hard to put together. I always like to learn something from these Ginter sets, and having 40 cards does make it so you get to read quite a lot! But 40 is a lot to put together – which is why it took me over 3 years!

I would have also added a few more recent people. Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee, John Nash and Ralph Baer are just a few that seem to be missing.

Best card (my opinion): #MMF40 – Ben Franklin

Tough to top the most famous inventor in American history! He has the final card in the set.

Any other tidbits: This set is all about history, like so many Ginter sets. There was another 2011 set – from Goodwin Champions – called “Citizens”. I thought there would be a few guys in both sets, but Louis Pasteur is the only guy in both sets. Alfred Nobel is in that set, but surprisingly is not in this Allen & Ginter insert set.